


Tales of the Crimson Dragon

by Fai_Gensou



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: F/M, origins story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 16:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16349816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fai_Gensou/pseuds/Fai_Gensou
Summary: How does a god become human?How does an exercise in curiosity become something more?How does an impatient, teenaged Elder Dragon God…become the Founder of Kouka?





	Tales of the Crimson Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> This is related to my story, Drawn, but reading that isn't needed to understand this, beyond that I'm sticking with my fan name for Yona's mother, Cheonsa.

_He was born from a river like his brothers, but from a river of fire, of lava. Perhaps that was why he found himself too curious and restless to remain in Heaven._

_He was fascinated by humans. Their lives were so short, like clouds, yet they strove to do as much as they could in that brief time._

_He began to plan out how he could go and live among humans like he was one of them. He didn’t want to just visit and be a silent specter._

_He wanted to experience life as humans did._

_He could never keep anything from his brothers. ‘If you are going to do this, we must be able to find you easily.’ His blue brother decreed._

_‘Keep your scale color as the color of what humans call ‘hair’.’ His white brother proposed, his green brother nodding in agreement._

_His yellow brother said nothing, but before him formed a golden pendant marked with a dragon. ‘Do as they suggested, and take this with you. Only then will we let you do this alone.’_

_With his brothers in agreement, he had no chance but to do as they said._

_Thus the day came when he decided to do it. After some thought he decided to descend as a human infant. Not only would it let him experience life more fully as a human, but any ignorance he showed could be excused, coming from a child._

_His yellow brother felt the saddest. ‘It’s not like a human lifetime is that long of a time.’ He tried to assure his yellow brother, but the sadness remained for reasons he didn’t know._

_After the mandatory last-minute fussing over him by his brothers, the Crimson Dragon God closed his eyes and pictured the infant he would become in the human world. About three months old by human reckoning, with hair the color of his scales and eyes that were the color of one of his favorite flowers in the human world, wisteria._

_The sensation that came over him as he invoked his power to do this was one that defied comprehension. He was splitting apart, yet becoming whole. The fire that filled his whole being dampened to near nothing, only to flare back up, nowhere near as strong as it had been._

* * *

His eyes flew open. He was now the infant he had pictured, wrapped in a blanket by the side of a road, the dragon pendant nestled in the blanket with him.

He could feel his dragon self inside, tending their fire. He was a part of the Crimson Dragon God, yet he was not him.

There was no point in becoming human and experiencing life as they did if he was tempted to cheat. He felt oddly blind, yet at the same time he marveled at the difference between the dragon senses he was used to and these human ones.

He knew humans had names, and that infants were named by their parents, so he guessed that he would be named by whomever found him.

Now for his least favorite thing: waiting. True, a human might measure his patience as long, but to his brothers he was as restless as the fire that had birthed him.

* * *

He gnawed on the pendant that had descended with him, once he managed to maneuver it into his mouth. When he had chosen to become a human infant, he didn’t realize just how completely dependent on older humans they were. He couldn’t decide if the lack of control over his movement or the aching gums was worse.

The sounds of an ox carriage drew his attention to the road next to where he lay in the reeds.

Trying and failing to clearly make out the carriage and the humans around it, he decided that blurry vision was the worst.

He jumped as a male picked him and carried him over to the cart. “It’s an infant Your Highness.”

The face of an older female filled his view, close enough that he could see her face clearly. Her black hair was threaded with lines of silver, and she wore a gentle smile easily. “Hello there little one.”

He blinked. He wasn’t expected to answer, was he?

“I’m surprised you spotted him my Lady, even with the hair.” A younger female commented. “But where is he from, to have hair of that color?”

“…it seems my prayer was answered, if not quite as I had hoped.” The female holding him whispered, ignoring the question.

He found his head resting against the elder female’s chest as the carriage started up again, one hand supporting his bottom and the other cradling his head. He found himself yawning and his eyelids grow heavy the longer the carriage was in motion and the more he listened to the thumping from the chest beneath him.

 _‘Wait, this is a heartbeat, isn’t it?’_ He said inside of himself. _‘I never expected it to be as soothing as my brothers’ voices and energies.’_

So far, being human was difference from what he expected. No control over his own body, no way to communicate, and completely dependent on the goodwill of others.

But he did not regret anything so far. There may be a day when that changed, but for now, he was warm and comfortable.

* * *

He started when the carriage stopped, the sun just now gone for the day. He hadn’t realized that he had fallen asleep. He felt more than heard the voice of the female—woman, he needed to remember that—holding him as she gave orders to fetch someone. “I have returned, my lord husband.” She bowed, and he wriggled enough to turn his head to see an elder male—man—who he guessed to be about the same age as the woman, with a certain air of authority.

“I welcome you back, my lady wife.” He replied, the whole exchange feeling more like a show for others, with the underlying warmth in the voices.

He was too distracted by taking in as much of the surroundings he was now in as he could to notice when the couple entered a private, comfortable room, and orders for food given. “It’s good to have you home again, Cheonsa.” The man said.

“It’s good to be home again, Il.” She answered with a smile.

“I notice you brought a little extra someone back with you.” The man’s face came into sharp focus as he was handed over to him.

His eyes glued to the dangling cords of Il’s headdress, and before he realized it, he had gotten a hold of one and starting chew on it. The couple laughed as he made a face, and decided it wasn’t as satisfying to gnaw on as his pendant. “He was in the reeds beside the road from the Crimson Dragon God’s shrine.” Cheonsa began. “No one else noticed him until I pointed him out.”

Wait, he had a shrine? That was a new one. True he moved as a specter on Earth more than his brothers, but he hadn’t thought he had done anything to warrant being worshiped.

“I had hoped, perhaps, that I would be able to carry to term and give you a healthy child after spending three nights there. If any god could fix what keeps me from kindling new life, it would have been him.” She continued. “I guess…what I had hoped for was too much to ask.”

He found himself ashamed to admit to himself that he had no clue what she was referring to. Women came and prayed at his shrine if they couldn’t conceive? How many women had offered up prayers to him to help them, only for their hopes to be in vain?

Suddenly he was back in her arms, being swayed back and forth. There were strange sounds, like the cries of young animals, and it hit him that he was making those noises.

Between the swaying and the nonsense murmured into his ear, he was able to stop. He rubbed his head against Cheonsa’s neck in apology, the way he would have if he’d upset one of his brothers too much. “…I think,” Il finally spoke. “That it’s not that it was too much to hope for, but that the gods do not always hear us.”

He ran a thumb over the pendant his yellow brother created. “Chance may have let you find him, or it may have been Fate.” Il embraced his wife, with him cradled between them. “And haven’t I told you that I am willing to consider that there may be some fault in me? I was…rather free…with my affection before our marriage, yet no one has come forward. All of them could not possibly have the same problem.”

“I know. But outside these walls, it is me who bears the blame, and you the scorn of not looking elsewhere.” She answered him. “But enough of that for now. We need a name.”

Il eyed both his hair and the pendant, considering. “…Hiryuu…?”

He found himself grinning. “I think we have a winner.” She said with a smile. “Even if what he was stays between the three of us, no one can think the name blasphemous, as he carries the Mark of the Dragon Gods.”

Thus the human self of the Crimson Dragon God was named Hiryuu. To outsiders, a statement of his hair and the mark he was found carrying.

The newly-named Hiryuu was pleased that his parents had realized what he had been. Even in this short time, it felt wrong to keep this from them, no matter how hampered he was in communicating.

“I sent for Yun-an.” She told Il. “She just had a girl, and I think her son will be pleased to potentially have a male playmate once Hiryuu is bigger.”

“I defer to your judgment, my lady.” Il teased, bowing slightly as a knock on the door disrupted the moment.

Hiryuu discovered another thing to add to his list, of what the worst part of being am infant was.

A small part of him had been fascinated by the chance to taste the food behind some of the delicious smells he had come across.

But without teeth, he couldn’t eat any of it.

He noticed his parents (and how weird and new a concept it was, parents) hiding smiles at his fascination and frustration with their meal, but he was too busy sulking to pay it much mind.

Before he realized it, the meal had ended, and there was now another woman in the room, younger than Cheonsa, with a newborn infant slung on her chest and a small boy trailing behind.

“How come his hair’s red?” The boy asked, cutting into the adults’ conversation over the new woman becoming his ‘nurse’.

“That’s just the way he was born.” His mother answered, turning back to Cheonsa as they went back and forth on if there should be payment and how much.

Hiryuu studied the boy who was the son of his ‘nurse’. His hair was a sandy brown, with ocean blue eyes. “I’m Guen.” The boy introduced himself. “I hope you grow up fast, cuz Pa’s too busy most of the time to play with me, and when he does have time, he’s always teaching me how to beat people up, which is fun, but you can’t play hide and seek by yourself…”

Hiryuu smiled and waved his arms as Guen continued describing all the games he wanted to play once Hiryuu was bigger. He couldn’t wait to play them too.

The women shared smiles as the late hour got to Guen and he curled up on the floor next to Hiryuu, curling an arm around his small body and pulling him close.

Guen didn’t fully understand what was going on, but he knew that he had to keep Hiryuu safe. “…and when we’re all grown up we can go beat people up together and keep them from hurting others and they’ll never ever touch you cuz I’ll be there like Pa is with His Highness and if they wanna hurt you they’ll hafta hurt me…” His voice trailed off as he gave into sleep, and Hiryuu watched him with a soft smile.

“I should feed him and start learning his pattern, but I don’t think Guen will let him go.” Yun-an whispered.

“Hiryuu’s only cried once since I found him, and I was able to calm him, so I think he’ll be fine for a few more hours.” Cheonsa replied.

Hiryuu yawned. Being an infant was more tiring than he had fully realized. He guessed it was because everything was new.

* * *

Falling asleep, he went inside himself, where his dragon self was tending their fire. He took the appearance of a boy Guen’s age, with his bright crimson hair cropped to his ears. “I’m not sure what happened.” He admitted. “I know that you’re me, well I’m you since you’re way older. But why are we separate?”

“I don’t know either.” Dragon-him replied. “I believe, however, that I am the embodiment of our power, in the form of what we had been in Heaven. Although now that we’ve done this, I see that it was a risky thing. Our fire wasn’t meant for a human body.”

“Will it kill us?”

“I’m tempering it. That may be another reason why we are separate. To survive as a human, there needed to be something to keep us from being consumed.” Dragon-him answered. “Are you having regrets?”

“…not about doing this, but about stuff I didn’t realize before.” He admitted.

“We can only move forward, and do better in the tomorrows to come.” Gently, his dragon-self nuzzled his head. “Now let’s dream of those games Guen described.”

He didn’t dream of the games, but of fighting together. His crimson hair was a banner drawing friend and foe to him, but with Guen taking out all the enemies, he found himself a little put out. “Do I have to order you to let me fight?”

“You ARE fighting, King.”

“I’m on a battlefield, getting bored because you’re hogging all the fun.” Hiryuu struck down a man coming up behind Guen. “You need someone to watch your back as well.”

Guen rolled his eyes, but gave in.

An empty feeling in his stomach drew Hiryuu from the dream, but he was left with one question.

Why was Guen’s hair white in the dream?

**Author's Note:**

> It's basically the complete story of Hiryuu, that Su-won's been translating in Drawn.


End file.
